"Japan's Kershaw" soars in popularity, even 400 billion is funny...rich people are getting richer
The battle to sign Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto (25) is heating up. The prospect of over 300 million dollars (about 400 billion won) is becoming more and more realistic.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, and New York Mets are among the teams currently in the running for Yamamoto, according to US media. All three are rich clubs in the so-called "big market". They have the money. The Dodgers recently flaunted their wealth by signing free agent sensation Shohei Ohtani, 29, to a 10-year, $700 million contract, while the Yankees have traditionally been nicknamed the "Evil Empire" for their ability to spend their way through Major League Baseball's best players. The Mets are propped up by billionaire owner Steve Cohen. All three teams have deep pockets. As they scramble to get their hands on Yamamoto, the ransom, which was expected to be around $200 million, has soared to $300 million.
"Two teams in New York are still in the hunt for Yamamoto," Yahoo Sports reported on Monday. Yamamoto, one of the top free agents this offseason, met with both Yankees and Mets officials last weekend. According to the New York Post, Mets owner Cohen invited Yamamoto to his home in Connecticut on July 17, and he met with Yankees officials on July 18.
The Dodgers invited Yamamoto to Dodger Stadium on Nov. 13 for a big pitch, bringing their MVP trio of Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman, whose combined value is $1.27 billion, to the table to try to convince Yamamoto. Betts is famously Yamamoto's favorite major leaguer. The team pulled out all the stops, including bringing in catcher Will Smith to take a battery break and displaying photos and words welcoming Yamamoto on the stadium scoreboard.
Yamamoto is a superstar ace who dominated Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) at the tender age of 25. In 172 career NPB games, he has a 70-29 record, 897 innings pitched, 922 strikeouts, and a 1.82 ERA. Until this year, he had already earned all the honors he could in Japan, including winning four pitching titles in a row and the Sawamura Award for three years in a row. Naturally, he has set his sights on the United States, where he hopes to prove himself on a stage where the best players in the world play. The Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets are all in on the action, and Yamamoto's value is rising.'The Yankees traded away a lot of pitching this year, acquiring Soto and Alex Verdugo. They need both Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes Jr. to be healthy and productive. If they don't do everything they can to win, including adding Yamamoto in the year they traded for Soto, it won't help them now or in the future. It will only make it clearer that the Yankees are the Yankees.
When Cohen bought the Mets, there was an unspoken promise that his money could get the Mets any star they wanted. Losing the battle for Yamamoto would hurt that perception. Yamamoto is also exactly what the Mets need on the mound. The current Mets starting rotation includes Senga Godai, Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, Tyler Megill, and Joey Lucchesi, with only Senga under contract beyond next season. There will be good starting pitchers next offseason, but none of them will be better than Yamamoto right now.
What they don't have now is a superstar on the pitching side (on par with the MVP trio). With the recent acquisition of Tyler Glasnow in a trade, and the return of two-hit star Ohtani in 2025, the pitching staff could be close (to the level of the hitting staff). But one clear ace will lead the Dodgers to a winning team for years to come. Clayton Kershaw is in his twilight years, and there's no guarantee he'll pitch for the Dodgers next season. Walker Buehler will be a free agent next year.
"Yamamoto could become the centerpiece. Yamamoto is already the Kershaw of Japan. He won the Sawamura Award in Japan, won MVP and the Triple Crown. Now he can be the next Kershaw for the Dodgers. Yamamoto is four years younger than Ohtani and five years younger than Glasnow, so he has the potential to be the Dodgers' ace in the long run.
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